AUSTRIA Law and Practice Contributed by: Bettina Knoetzl, Patrizia Netal, Katrin Hanschitz and Natascha Tunkel, KNOETZL
Marchandises par Route , or CMR); and (e) the Convention on the Registration of Inland Navigation Vessels of 25 January 1965. • In the area of family law, the Hague Conventions on matters of family law and civil status of 1958, 1961, 1980, 1996, 2000 and 2007, as well as the Conven - tion on the Recognition of Decisions relating to the Validity of Marriages of 8 September 1967. Outside such multilateral treaties, Austria has been reluctant to enter into bilateral treaties on the recogni - tion and enforcement of judgments. Currently, bilateral treaties are in place, for example, with Israel (BGBl 1968/349), Liechtenstein (BGBl 1956/212, 1975/114), Tunisia (BGBl 1980/305) and Turkey (BGBl 1992/257). 3.3 Categories of Foreign Judgments Not Enforced The main prerequisite for judgments to be enforced is that the relief granted be clearly stated. In general, Austrian law does not differentiate between categories and types of judgments. Special rules do apply, however, particularly in the area of family law (adoption, matrimonial issues, parental responsibility) and the recognition of insolvency proceedings. Regarding default judgments, the right to be heard is safeguarded by the Austrian courts, both under Brussels I Recast and under Austrian law. Pursu - ant to Section 408 of the EA, Austrian courts may refuse recognition and enforcement of the judgment if the defendant was not given sufficient opportunity to participate in the proceedings due to procedural irregularities. Brussels I Recast further provides a stricter regime for interim measures than for final judgments, requiring – in particular – that the court issuing an interim relief is also competent for the main proceedings. However, if this requirement is met, Brussels I Recast also permits the enforcement of ex parte interim measures, provid - ed the decision has been served on the defendant(s) before enforcement. Outside the regime of Brussels I Recast, ex parte interim orders are generally not enforceable in Austria.
Austrian law does not have an instrument equivalent to punitive damages and, accordingly, will not enforce a judgment (or that part of a judgment) awarding such damages. 3.4 Process of Enforcing Foreign Judgments Enforcing Contested EU Judgments Proceedings Under Brussels I Recast, no separate recognition pro - ceedings are required, allowing the creditor to move directly to obtaining a declaration of enforceability and proper enforcement proceedings. The application for enforcement is to be made to the competent domestic court (for more detail, see 2.2 Enforcement of Domestic Judgments ). Together with the enforcement application, the creditor must provide a copy of the judgment, which must be accompanied by a certificate issued by the court that rendered the decision in the country of origin (pursuant to Article 53, Annex 1 of Brussels I Recast). The translation of the judgment is not mandatory, but the court may order the creditor to produce a (certified) translation of the judgment. According to Article 41, paragraph 1 of Brussels I Recast, the procedure for enforcement shall be gov - erned by the law of the member state in which enforce - ment is sought. This means that, in effect, domestic Austrian enforcement provisions apply directly (see 2.2 Enforcement of Domestic Judgments ). Debtor’s defences There are several limited grounds on which recog - nition of a judgment rendered by the courts of an EU member state can be denied. These exceptions include cases in which the recognition of the judgment is manifestly contrary to the public policy of the EU member state in which recognition is sought, or if the judgment was rendered in violation of due process. Other grounds for the denial of recognition include if the decision is irreconcilable with a previous judgment between the same parties. According to the Austrian Supreme Court, the require - ment that the foreign judgment be enforceable in the state of origin does not imply a requirement that the judgment could indeed be enforced in the country in
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